


Underlust Reimagine Speed Date Event

by zirkkun



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: (they vary by chapter), Alternate Universe - Underlust Reimagine (Undertale), Blind Date, Fanservice, First Dates, Fluff, Multi, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Reader Has Multiple Sets of Pronouns, Underlust Reimagine Alphys (Undertale), Underlust Reimagine Metacrit (Undertale), Underlust Reimagine Papyrus (Undertale), Underlust Reimagine Sans (Undertale), Underlust Reimagine Undyne (Undertale), huehue uwu/
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-22 14:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30039867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zirkkun/pseuds/zirkkun
Summary: The results collection of the winners for the ULR speed date event I hosted on Tumblr! However, I wrote them so anyone could read it. It's just a matter of who the date was tailored towards!
Relationships: Alphys (Underlust Reimagine)/Reader, Alphys (Undertale)/Reader, Metacrit (Underlust Reimagine)/Reader, Mettaton (Undertale)/Reader, Papyrus (Underlust Reimagine)/Reader, Papyrus (Undertale)/Reader, Sans (Underlust Reimagine)/Reader, Sans (Undertale)/Reader, Undyne (Underlust Reimagine)/Reader, Undyne (Undertale)/Reader
Kudos: 13





	1. Table of Contents / Intro

**Hey guys!**

So, on _January 17, 2021_ , I posted [this post](https://zirkkun.tumblr.com/post/640599294611685376/thank-you-guys-for-16k-followers) to celebrate 1.6k+ followers on Tumblr. I wanted to do a bit of a fun event, and indulge people in their very-obvious-based-on-the-asks-they-send-me love for my Underlust Reimagine AU cast. If you're unfamiliar with the AU, feel free to check out the [masterpost](https://zirkkun.tumblr.com/post/636011189409873920/underlust-reimagine-masterpost) on Tumblr! Do be aware that, while this _specific_ collection is only written at a T-rating, the whole of the story is given a 16+/M-rating -- and, naturally, the AU ULR is based off of (that being Underlust) is 18+/E-rated, so there's that to be aware of as well.

Starting today, _March 14th, 2021_ (in the CST time zone), the results for this event will be posted simultaneously on here as well as on Tumblr. Feel free to read them either place. I just like documenting my written works here in a neat and orderly fashion. They will all be under the _#underlust reimagine event_ and _#zircon writes_ tags on my blog as well.

Additionally, due to there being a winner for each character, each chapter will likely have a different set of pronouns, but none will be directly referred to by name within the fic. Just something to be aware of -- I'll be sure to mark what the pronouns are in the notes at the beginning of every chapter.

* * *

**Table of Contents  
*** these are released in the order of how many submissions were obtained for each character, lowest to highest. *  
\+ there may be potential for delays just due to the fact I work very last-minute and my life seems to always hit me in the face when I have due dates, but for now this should be the release dates! + **  
**

1\. Ally's (Alphys) Date - _released March 14, 2021_

2\. Pearly's (Undyne) Date - _released March 15, 2021_

3\. Metacrit's Date - _released March 16, 2021_

4\. Duo's (Papyrus) Date - _released March 17, 2021_

5\. Ace's (Sans) Date - _released March 18, 2021_


	2. Ally's Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ally was in last place with 23 submitted forms, so she’s the first to have the results posted! The winner of this date was an anon who submitted a form under the name HptPocketDan! They requested to have she/they pronouns used for their insert.

* * *

Ally hadn't particularly left her apartment once she managed to move in upon arriving to the surface. And, well... she wasn't planning to today, either, so it's not like it mattered -- but today someone would be visiting. Like. Another person. Someone she barely knew. And not like the repairman or pizza delivery or anything. They were here for a  _ date. _ And not like they were staying there for a date with someone else which frankly now that she thought about it would be pretty weird if someone she didn't know was going to come into her apartment to have a date for some reason?? What was she talking about again. Um. Oh. Right.

_ She had a date today. _

A borderline  _ blind _ date. They'd just kind of fit a few things she'd thrown questions about onto a form (that she genuinely hadn't expected anyone to fill out to begin with) and this happened. And it was with a  _ human _ no less. This was the utmost amount of pressure she could have ever had in one single day.

Currently, Alphys was curled up into a ball, blankets coiled around her, with her snout shoved into her phone screen as she scrolled through social media without even bothering to read anything. It was more just the action that was reassuring her at the moment more than anything else.

Which, her phone was dropped as her doorbell rang. Briefly, she just held a tight grip on her blanket for a moment -- but when the doorbell rang again she jumped up with a jolt and scurried to the door in a panic.

"S-sorry!" Alphys blurted as she threw open the door. Across from her was who she could only assume was the human she'd agreed to go on a date with today. They were... really pretty... oh gosh she already was getting distracted two seconds into the date. Meeting? They hadn't met yet. "Oh -- right -- um -- sorry -- I -- you can -- call me Alphys? Or Ally? Um. W-Whatever works for you."

The human smiled pleasantly, greeting with her own name before asking if she was allowed inside. Ally nodded, opening the door a bit more so they could walk in.

They'd planned nothing more than an anime watching session today. Nothing  _ too _ fancy... but, well, it didn't really de-escalate Alphys's nerves as much as she thought they would have. At the very least, her anxiousness had allowed her to prep everything far too much in advance: on top of waking up at about 5 A.M., she connected her laptop to her TV as soon as she did so, with enough snacks piled out on her coffee table to feed probably an army of  _ otaku _ . She tried to compile a list of shows the two of them could watch for the day... and tried to keep it as  _ tame _ as possible... but, eventually, she eventually just chose the one suggested by the human to watch --  _ Cells at Work! _ , was it? It seemed pretty cute, anyways. But Alphys really hadn't watched anything so, uh...  _ family-friendly _ in a very long time. Well, there was some blood, but... not exactly the same.

"F-feel free to sit wherever you'd like!!" she exclaimed, however quickly collecting her blanket from the couch as soon as she said that, to try and give the human more options to sit at. They merely chuckled at the action, taking a spot at the other end of the couch. Alphys... while a bit embarrassed, just decided to sit back down where she had been earlier.

Okay. Well. Now it's weirdly quiet. Maybe she should just -- start the show or something??

Alphys began to pull her laptop from the coffee table into her lap when the human started to speak up.

"I mean -- we don't have to jump into things right away, ahah," she said. "We could chat over some snacks if you'd like. You... brought out an awful lot, so might as well."

"Is it too many?" Alphys panicked immediately. "I can put some back if you'd like. If you need. Um. I just didn't know what you'd like to eat so --"

"No, no, it's fine, I'm not saying it's a bad thing!" She offered a bright smile. "These are some of my favorites, actually, so no need to worry."

Alphys wasn't sure if that made her panic more or less, ironically enough. Even still, she shuffled her laptop back onto the overpiled snack table, passing one of the containers to the human as Ally grabbed a box of Pocky for herself. Strawberry, specifically, since those were her favorite. She popped open the container and started nervously nibbling on one of the frosted sticks.

"Your apartment is really nice," the human commented. "And you've really taken a lot of time to decorate the place."

Suddenly overwhelmed with the reality of how much nerdy stuff was plastered all over her walls and bookshelves, Ally retorted with, "O-oh, it's... yeah, it took  _ way _ too long, eheh... probably shouldn't have spent so much time on it, honestly. It. Um. It's kind of a bit much."

"No way, I'm actually kind of jealous. I'd love to have such a fun place to live in."

Alphys laughed nervously once more. "O-oh, yeah, sure..." Her voice wasn't sarcastic -- more just unsure of where the statement was even going. She scrambled around in her thoughts a bit for something else to talk about, but it seems that the human managed to beat her to it.

"Oh, that's right, you mentioned you liked writing, right? I was going to ask -- do you do any other sort of art like that, too?"

Ally's face immediately flushed with a lavender hue as she tried to bury her face in her box of Pocky. "U-um... s-sometimes. But. I don't. Really share it anywhere. Or anything. Um. It's. I..." She laughed nervously. "I r-really just like writing things about my favorite characters... it helps keep my mind off of things..."

The human laughed in agreement. "Me too! Characters are such a fun way to express yourself and find out a lot more about yourself."

"Right?" Alphys leaped up. "They're so much easier to talk to, too!" But, upon realizing what she'd said, Alphys sputtered, "I-I mean, not to say you're not easy to talk to or anything!! It's just!! Sometimes it's hard to talk about my problems to people?? And so characters make it easy to talk about and get it out of my system??"

"No, no, I totally understand," the human agreed, nodding their head. "Sometimes it's easier to see your own problems when they're projected onto other people, too."

"Yes!! You get it." Ally expressed such a sentence with both relief and excitement, not even realizing what she'd said until the human giggled in response. She wanted to bury her head in her hands, but instead settled for a half-hearted grin as she looked to the table for… guidance? Help? A distraction? Who knows. "It's uh… it's just, a lot of people don't think that. Or, at least the people I've known, eheh…"

Alphys had been expecting another laugh, but the human remained pensive as they waited for her to continue. While a bit awkward, she did so anyway. "Because… um… w-well, I don't know what your experiences with this have been, ah-hah… but, f-for me, I've… had a few people tend to disagree with me on that…" Alphys turned to face the human, but her gaze was averted elsewhere, if not flicking to literally anywhere to look other than the human's face. "F-fictional characters and stuff… like… not many people are into them, y-you know? Especially in the Underground, when not a lot of people were making stories and stuff… since we had a lot of issues on our hands… so a lot of people just kind of thought it was… s-sad, I guess?" Ally buried her cheek into the palm of her hand. "Ahah, you… probably don't get what I mean… n-nobody on the form was concerned about it… so m-maybe it's just a cultural thing…"

"Nah, I get it," the human responded. "Sometimes who or what you end up liking isn't in your control, but that doesn't make you any less of a person. There's plenty of people on the Surface who probably would think it's 'sad' too, but I think they're the ones missing out." She offered a playful smile.

"O-oh…" Alphys murmured, finding herself more sheepish than usual. "Eheh… well… I'm… glad you don't mind… since some people do…"

"Well, sorry for the serious discussion before the anime binge -- I definitely didn't intend for that," the human laughed. "Ought to lighten the mood a bit. What show did you pick out for today?"

Alphys blinked back to attention as she scrambled to grab her laptop again. "O-oh! Right! I, uh, picked out the show you suggested.  _ Cells at Work! _ ?"

"Oh, you didn't have to! But I'm glad, since it's a really good show. I'm telling you now, you're gonna be shipping Red Blood Cell and White Blood Cell. They're so cute."

"R-really?" Ally's eyes lit up in ecstasy as she finished pulling up the first episode. She didn't have much else to say, but she knew that alone made her a lot more excited to watch the show.


	3. Pearly's Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The winner was anon who submitted under the name (clears through 'cause I'm gonna read this word for word), "River and or Creek works just fine for me ^^." The requested pronouns to be used for this chapter's insert were she/they.

* * *

"Do we have to wear makeup for this...?"

"It'll be just a little!! Promise!! And I'll help you wash it off the second we get back!!"

"It's just a trip to the mall, though."

"Okay, but, don't you wanna see how _hella_ cute you'll look? Maybe we'll snag some compliments when we're out!"

The human couldn't help but laugh. This isn't exactly what she expected for a date today, but nevertheless, she'd been pretty entertained thus far. Undyne insisted she'd not been on many, if any, dates before this, and while sometimes it showed, other times she clearly had a way to work around people and make them happy. The human wasn't the biggest fan of makeup, but for some reason, the idea of getting dolled up when Undyne was so excited about it seemed a lot more fun. Even if it was just before they were going to the mall.

Eventually, the human found themself sitting across from Undyne in a chair while she grabbed a shockingly large makeup bag from another room. She unzipped the bag and dug around for a few things before grabbing some concealer and a couple of palettes of blush, both a couple shades darker than the human's skin tone, but one was a bit more red while the other was a bit more brown. "Which one do you like better?" Undyne asked. The human pointed to the one they preferred, only for Undyne to nod. She snatched a fluffy makeup brush from the bag and quickly began her work, although starting with the concealer she had grabbed. Why did Undyne have so many different tones of makeup -- especially for skin tones? The human really didn't know, but felt a bit too awkward to ask.

The human was quiet for a fair amount of time, not exactly sure what to say to Undyne at this point. Needless to say, this date had already been exceptionally different from what she had expected, but at the same time, she was very relieved for the relaxed environment for the date. So many are just stuffy and awkward or even formal, but this was... it felt more like a couple of friends hanging out for the day, and it was a lot more appealing.

"By the way, what kind of stores'n stuff did you wanna go to? Or did you just wanna wander? I'm totally fine with that too. Window shopping's super fun," Undyne asked, rambling slightly off topic for a short while after before cutting herself off, to the human's amusement.

"Uh, I'm fine with whatever," the human chuckled. She went to continue, but --

"OH! That's right you said you played -- _uhh, what was it again,_ \-- DUNGEON AND DRAGONS, RIGHT?!" Undyne yelled excitedly. "Maybe we could go to like a gaming store or something like that!!"

"Oh, no, I... don't need to buy _another_ set of dice..."

"C'm _ooon_ , there'll probably be more than dice there anyway. Maybe we'll find some super cool nerdy stuff there too. We also totally don't have to buy anything if you don't want to."

"You just want to go there for yourself at this point, don't you?" teased the human.

"WHAA-- yeah, definitely. I've never played Dungeons and Dragons though and from the title it sounds _rad as hell?!_ I have to know more about it, I can't go on living without this knowledge." Undyne popped open another makeup palette, this one seeming to be a sort of earthy toned set of eyeshadow. "Hey, close your eyes for me, could you, babe?" The human did as instructed, quickly feeling the pressure of a soft brush against their eyelid. "Cool, thanks."

"You know," the human started, "we could play D&D at some point if you'd like. It's really fun, I already play a game with a couple other people --"

"OH SHIT REALLY?!" Undyne blurted, having ignored her passed "we could play D&D" in complete excitement. "This sounds SO fun, ABSOLUTELY yes. Can we do that today actually instead of the mall?!"

Laughing, the human answered, "Well, we don't really have a session planned today... but we could go get you some books and dice or something and I help you make your character when we get back maybe?"

"DEAL!" Undyne shouted. She forced herself to calm down while going to apply eyeshadow to the human's other eye, but frankly, she was now really shaky -- so filled with ecstasy because _holy shit! Dragons!_

"I do also kind of want to visit the spiritual shop that's there, too, though..." the human added.

"Hm? Spiritual shop? What's that?"

"Oh. It's a place that has a lot of calming and self-care stuff. They also have a lot of statues and jewelry, some are religious but not all of them."

"Ooh, sounds neat. I'd love to go there, too," Undyne agreed. "I dunno a lot about human culture and stuff, so maybe I'll learn something on this trip too, ahaha!" She clamped shut the eyeshadow palette, shoving it back into her makeup bag. "You can open your eyes again now, too."

The human did so, gaze revealed to see Undyne shuffling around to find more things in the bag. This time, she seemed to be plucking out various lipstick containers, some cylindrical and others not, of varying different colors. After pulling out probably as many as she could hold, Undyne offered them out for the human to choose, the containers held sprawled between her fingers for how many there were. "Which one do you like the best? I've also got more if you still wanna look," Undyne suggested.

"No, that's fine... I think this one's okay," the human responded, reaching for the color on Undyne's far right. "This is one of my favorite colors."

"Oh, damn, really? I really hit the nail on that one then, huh?" Undyne laughed again as she put the rest of them back into her bag. "Okay, well, I don't do anything fancy with this, so..." She, after popping open the container, started to press the color into the human's bottom lip. "Move that around for me, could ya?"

The human did so, but with a bit of an eyebrow raised. "I feel like this has been done differently for me before," they noted.

"Well, it's how I taught myself and it works, so that's all that matters!" Undyne chuckled. The process continued until the human's lips were a bright color, otherwise sticking out from the natural look with the rest of the makeup... but, hey, Undyne was wearing bright orange lipstick herself, so maybe it wasn't that weird.

Throwing the sealed lipstick back in the bag, Undyne clapped in success. "And done!! You look so good, I'm not gonna lie. You wanna see? One sec, lemmie grab my mirror --" And, before the human could even respond, Undyne lept up from her seat and darted off, although quickly returning with a hand mirror. "How's it looking?"

The human taking the mirror, she inspected herself -- and was a bit impressed with Undyne's work, probably more so than with how they looked themself. It was quite pretty and seemed almost professional given the small amount of time she spent on this. For a very brief moment, the human toyed with the question "Why don't I do this more often?"

... until the fact that the caked on makeup made them feel like an absolute clown answered the question for them.

She hummed in a neutral tone. "It looks really nice," she complimented. "You did a great job."

"Ahaha, thanks! I think I was a bit rushed but so long as you like it that's what matters!"

The human grinned when she handed Undyne her mirror back. Quickly taking it and tossing it back wherever she had grabbed it from -- how in the world did she not just break that -- Undyne excitedly already began making her way to the front door. "Let's get goin' then! I'm super pumped for this date, babe, I genuinely dunno how much longer I can sit and wait."

Laughing, the human got up and began to follow Undyne.


	4. Metacrit's Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The winnder for this date was the anon who submitted under the name Corvus! He requested to have he/him pronouns for the story.

* * *

Metacrit still wasn't exactly used to the concept of being on the Surface, so seeing someone who proclaimed himself to be "not the going out sort of person" was a bit more enlightening to read. While the Surface was something new to experience, something new to let him become beyond what he used to be… the concept of forgetting your past and leaving everything behind was a lot more difficult than he anticipated.

Nevertheless, he wanted to try something different, at least. He already knew most of monsterkind, so why not try to find out more about humanity? Well, as it turned out, a lot of aspects he didn't like about monsterkind still bled over into humanity -- especially being overly flirtatious, apparently… but, luckily, there were some stray few who didn't like it, at least. Though, he wasn't really all that certain how much people would be willing to believe the trauma that came from even so much as a cheesy pickup line, regardless.

"Metacrit? You okay?"

His attention was brought back to the table in front of him, which was set up for an extremely casual "tea party" of sorts: a few light sandwiches and a pitcher of store-bought tea. The human had tried to insist that he should make some tea for the two of them, but, while Metacrit had no idea how to make it himself, really didn't want him to go through all the trouble of doing that, and settled on this instead. Which… was lackluster at best.

Metacrit's date sat diagonal to him. His eyes blinking with concern lacing his expression while he nervously anticipated Metacrit's response.

Metacrit merely smiled, releasing a soft sigh. "Yes, I'm fine. Sorry about that." He reached for and took a sip from the half-empty glass of tea in front of him. "What were we talking about again?"

The human frowned, but the concern seemed to be wiped from his face. "Uh… I don't really remember. Something about human and monster cultural differences? We went all over the place."

"That's true as well," Metacrit chuckled. He crossed one leg over the other in his seat as he set down his glass. "I seem to recall you saying you enjoyed things like art and enjoyed 'art museums'?"

Laughing slightly, the human responded, "Yeah, I like going to art museums, but like I've said before I don't really like going out very much. But it is nice to historical pieces and the varying amounts of art styles people use all over the world. Shows are also interesting -- like, plays, movies, stuff like that. Something where people are acting. They also vary by place to place and it's neat to see how the actors take their roles."

Metacrit's expression lit up the more the human described things, even though it may have just been the basics of art itself. He couldn't help but find it all fascinating, no matter how trivial it may seem. "The diversity of human culture never manages to not shock me. It's… just so much," Metacrit replied in amazement.

"Ahah, well… it's not exactly that great in a lot of cases. I think some aspects of monster culture are things we could learn from." The human took a sip of tea.

Metacrit, almost insulted, scoffed the moment he suggested that. "Excuse me? What aspect about monster culture could even be remotely better than humanity's?"

"Gender comes to mind first," he answered immediately. "Humans have an age-old binary system that makes it really difficult for anyone who doesn't fit either side to be accepted, making the whole situation really… complex, to put it in the lightest terms possible."

Well, Metacrit hadn't really considered this to be an aspect of human culture at all. The concept of only having one side or the other seemed… bizzare to him. While he tried to wrap his head around it for the sake of conversation, it wasn't working. What if someone can't choose? What happens? What if someone fits in the middle? Doesn't like either option? There's… two isn't enough choices for even monsterkind -- and humanity is much larger in population. He can't fathom the idea of being forced one way or the other.

"Though, maybe I'm speaking a bit too bluntly. I don't know exactly how things are seen in monster culture -- maybe there's something that still makes that situation non-ideal too."

The human's additional statement is what finally sparked something for Metacrit to continue talking about. Luckily -- luckily? -- for him, this was applicable.

"There is one aspect that doesn't quite fit the normal 'decide your gender when you're out of stripes' situation that most monsters have," he began. "Ghosts don't exactly work exactly the same as most other monsters. They're incorporeal, firstly, and they don't usually age either. They don't really have a time where ghosts are "in stripes." Some say that ghosts are made from fallen monsters' ashes… but I really don't want to think about that." He shook his head. "Point is, ghosts usually tend to go by 'they' or 'it' more than anything else. When they become corporeal by possessing something, that's when most ghosts choose something to identify themselves as, but not all change."

"Really?" the human asked. "I didn't realize there were subcultures for monsters too."

Metacrit half-nodded. "You could call it that, I suppose," he replied. He tossed back and forth the idea of telling the fact that he, himself, was once a ghost, but didn't want to dive down the rabbit hole of his past. Especially since, the reasoning behind becoming corporeal… his reason for his current body…

He tugged at his cyan jacket sleeve.

The reason that she…

It was the human accidentally dropping a sandwich, letting it fall apart entirely, that woke Metacrit back to reality this time. "... whoops," the human muttered, staring at the mess of various condiments and slices that were sprawled across the wooden table. There was a brief moment of awkward silence before Metacrit sliced through it with his own laughter.

He pushed back his seat as he started to stand up. "Don't worry about it. I'll get it," Metacrit replied.

"Wait -- I can clean it up, I'm the one who dropped the sandwich anyway --"

"Don't worry! You're my guest after all. Besides, everyone makes mistakes, I don't mind cleaning it up."


	5. Duo's Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The anon who won for this chapter submitted under the name Cherry! She requested to have she/her pronouns for this chapter.

* * *

The moment the proposition of cooking at home was offered as a date, Papyrus was completely sold. He barely gets a chance to practice cooking nowadays, but it's a skill anyone looking for a datemate should have!! After all, is food not the window to someone's SOUL? Or, maybe it was the way to win them over. Papyrus was starting to get his cheesy romantic sayings mixed up now -- ugh, probably because he was never given the chance to use them!!

Well, that didn't really matter anymore, anyway. He was living seperate from Sans on the Surface, so he could do anything he wanted without being watched over like a hawk. Sometimes he did feel bad about the fact he didn't even so much as consider living with his brother when given the chance to move out, given everything he did for Papyrus… but, it's not like he cut ties with him entirely. Papyrus just wanted somewhere where he could fend and decide for himself.

And now, because of that, he finally got a date!! He'd been waiting YEARS for something like this to happen, but every time he tried to go on one previously -- even when he tried to do it in secret -- Sans would find out and force him to cut ties immediately. But now it didn't matter! Now he didn't know, and didn't need to! And Papyrus was so happy!!

The human who'd come by his apartment for dinner this evening -- which they were cooking together, by the way, for it to be extra cutesy and romantic (declared as such by Papyrus) -- was, as far as he was concerned, very pretty. He'd been convinced she'd been on many dates before this because of that, but apparently she hadn't?! Which, as far as he was aware, was practically criminal in itself. So, might as well change that!! Besides, a stay-at-home cooking date was too fun of an idea to pass up.

And, of course, what better date food dish is there than pasta?! Specifically farfalle (you know, the little bowties!!) with chicken alfredo. Which was Papyrus's favorite dish. Like, absolute favorite. Nothing could beat it. And the human said she can eat anything, so she'll love it too!

Currently, she was helping him by boiling the water for the pasta, while Papyrus was cooking the chicken cutlets. The apartment's kitchen was already filled with an apetizing aroma, even though they hadn't been cooking for that long yet.

"It's been a while since I've done something like this with someone else," the human commented with a smile.

"I THINK THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I'VE EVER COOKED A MEAL WITH SOMEONE ELSE!" Papyrus announced, though sounding more excited about the endeavor than anything else while sprinkling on seasonings for the chicken. The human was a little taken aback.

"You're joking, really?"

"I COULD NOT BE MORE SERIOUS!"

"Wow," the human gaped. "You're so open and kind to others that I would have never expected something like that!"

Papyrus didn't respond right away. He didn't really know what to respond with, frankly. "YOU REALLY THINK SO?"

"What? Of course! Why wouldn't I think that?" The human started opening a fresh box of bowtie pasta as the water started to fully come to a boil. "You're a great person! Don't you even declare that yourself?"

Taking this as an excuse to change the subject, Papyrus jumped in with, "O-OH, OF COURSE! I AM THE GREAT AND FABULOUS PAPYRUS, AFTER ALL." The human seemed satisfied upon hearing this as they started laughing while dumping the pasta noodles into the boiling water as carefully as she could. Papyrus returned to cooking his chicken in the meanwhile.

Papyrus was starting to become hyperaware of the fact he had no experience with dates whatsoever. He didn't really know what else to say from this point forward, especially not after that kind of… compliment? statement? conversation? He wasn't even sure how to address it at this point. Hm… well, any old topic might do, he supposed.

"I KNOW YOU ALREADY TOLD ME YOU LIKE TO COOK TOO, BUT WHAT OTHER TYPES OF THINGS DO YOU DO?" he asked.

The human set the empty box onto the counter before looking to him with a grin. "I like all kinds of art. Like drawing, painting, singing, playing the piano…"

"YOU KNOW HOW TO SING?!" Papyrus asked excitedly.

"W-Well, yeah, but --"

"COULD YOU SING ME SOMETHING?" But the moment he said that, he took it back and shook his head. "NO, NO, SINGING ON THE SPOT WOULD NOT BE GOOD. YOU HAVE NOT HAD PROPER WARM-UPS! AND THE UNEXPECTED REQUEST MEANS YOU WOULD NOT BE THOROGHLY PREPARED FOR THE PERFORMANCE! BUT WHENEVER YOU DO HAVE A TIME WHEN YOU ARE GOING TO SING, PLEASE INVITE ME!"

The human couldn't help but laugh. "I'll make sure you're the first to know," she responded, a bit of playfulness lining her tone. Even despite that, Papyrus still found himself a bit giddy at the thought of going to a performance for someone he knew, to go there to support them. It seemed a bit like a dream more than anything.

Without really thinking out a transition, Papyrus blurted, "DO YOU HAVE ANY DREAMS, HUMAN?"

Unsurprisingly, she wasn't really expecting the response, and after her initial shock disappated, she pondered the question for a while. "I…" But she stopped. "Well…" Still, no answer. "Hm. I… don't think so."

"YOU DON'T THINK SO?"

The human shook her head. "Not really, no. I prefer living more in the moment and just seeing what happens next, and going forward with what's been given to me, I guess?" She let out a soft hum. "I haven't really given it a whole lot of thought?" But even that sentence seemed uncertain. Even still, Papyrus seemed a bit disappointed to hear this answer. Then again, being now on the Surface without the Royal Guard, on a date, no longer living with his brother… all of his dreams he'd been working to achieve were, well, achieved.

He wasn't wholly certain on whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.

But, what he did know for sure, is that he's felt happier than he has in years.


	6. Ace's Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The winner here, and the final winner, of this date submitted under the name Lilianna! She requested she/her pronouns on her submission.

* * *

Sans still didn't want to be a part of this. He didn't want to be doing this at all. But, unfortunately, his brother wouldn't take "hell no" for an answer. So now he was stuck on a date. With a human, no less. Oh joy. Despite the fact that living on the Surface was so saught after, he really wasn't finding it to be appealing.

At least, for the start of this, he was by himself. Maybe a long time ago, he would have been bothered by someone being late to an event like this, but for now, he was indulging in the silence.

She, Sans's date, decided that she wanted to meet at this park outside of the city, late at night, for a chance to watch the stars. Frankly, he didn't really care one way or another. But, he did eventually find himself standing at the ledge of a bridge, watching the stars twinkling in their reflection on a river. That and the dead silence, only bug noises chirping here and there; was shockingly more relaxing than Sans had anticipated it would be.

"There you are! Sorry I'm late!!"

And the relaxation was cut short. Oh well. Not that he didn't expect that.

Sans turned his attention towards the direction of the voice, spotting the human running up to him as fast as she could. Panting as she caught up to him on the bridge, she exclaimed, "I'm so, so sorry, things were backed up getting out of the city and --"

"i don't really care," Sans cut in. He turned his attention back to the river.

The human, a little taken aback, tried to brush over the harsh comment. She took a step towards the edge of bridge, holding on to the railing with a tight grip. The silence echoed in the park once more, but for the human, this was more awkward than anything else. She didn't really know what to say... is there a topic she knew offhand he'd be willing to discuss? Um... no, not really. 

"hey."

Oh! He said something first! "Yeah?" the human responded.

"do you think a fall from this height into the river would kill me?"

A brief moment of silence. It held both shock and interest from each halves of the conversation.

"What -- _I don't know?!_ I don't really _want_ to know!! That sounds painful regardless and I really don't want to find out!!"

But Sans just laughed at her sudden panic. "relax. i was joking."

"Th... that's a bit of a dark joke, don't you think?"

He shrugged. "It happens." He didn't elaborate, leaving the silence to once again consume the conversation into nothing. The human shifted uncomfortably where she stood.

She debated back and forth on another topic to talk about. Anything to ease the tension -- especially since it got _worse_ with his topic of choice.

"Um... so, on that form thing, you asked me about stuff I like to do... but what about stuff you like to do?" she prompted, hoping it wouldn't be another dark joke response.

"hm." Sans pondered the question for a while, not really knowing what to say. When's the last time he did something he liked doing? Probably when he was working with the other Royal Scientists. Which was over ten years ago. "i dunno," he answered instead. "haven't done anything just 'cause in a long time."

"Oh." The human frowned. "Well, maybe we could do something together sometime then, and you can find a new hobby? Only if you'd like, of course."

Sans raised a brow as he flicked his gaze to her. "like what?"

"Oh, um... well, I like to bake, draw, and read... but those are all pretty boring so maybe not those..." she responded sheepishly.

Sans didn't react negatively, but he wasn't exactly enthusiastic either. He's practically read every book from the Underground cover-to-cover with how much time he's had on his hands, and his drawing skills were... not to be admired. And Papyrus has always been on his case to eat more. So... "i dunno, baking?" he blurted.

The human blinked. "As in, you'd want to do some baking together?"

"yeah, sure, whatever."

"You really don't sound all that interested."

"i'm not interested in most things, what's your point?"

The human shuffled back into silence for a brief while as she herself started to stare at the river, her eyes trailing down the reflection until they met the sky, full of crystal-clear stars. "You don't have to if you don't want to," she added. "I know you're already... not super excited about this current date, so please don't feel like you have to force yourself further."

Ah. There it was. The same kind of consideration that made him pick this person over everyone else in the first place. Some people had acknowledged him not wanting to deal with this, but their responses were things like, "Then why be here?" which only irked him enough to toss them aside. Some disacknowledged it, which he prefered, but something about when she said... "You seem like you don't want to do this anyways, which is all good," really hit him in a way he didn't expect.

Sans, however, did not even consider responding out loud, and instead just pulled his scarf up tighter on his face. Sans? Being honest and clear with his emotions? Haha. How funny. Easier to just push them aside. A void of feeling is much easier to deal with.

Well, he did give a sort of grunt of acknowledgment to her comment. But... it was really far after she'd said anything. So she thought he was prompting something new.

"What's that?" she asked.

"nothing."

"Then...?" But the human just shook her head. Maybe talk about something else. "You know..." She'd started a sentence, but didn't actually have anything to say. In a frantic moment to try and finish what she'd started, she said, "Time is a precious thing, isn't it?"

There was a pause.

"what'd'ya mean?" Sans asked.

"We only get so much of it. It's so limited and can be taken from us in a second."

"... yeah, and?"

"I just... I like spending time with people," she finalized. "There's only so much time I have available, and I want to be able to spend as much of it as I can with people I care about and doing things I've wanted to do. Thinking about it all is a bit scary sometimes..."

Sans debated the crass comment of "so what you're saying is i should leave and do something i'd rather be doing," but he figured now was not the time for something like that. He waited a moment to see if the human had more to say about the topic, but when she didn't, he decided to jump in with his own response. "worrying about what you might lose out on is kinda pointless," he said bluntly. "sometimes shit ain't gonna work out, and you'll miss out on something you'd have rather wanted. sometimes people are taken away from you when you least expect it and you're left wondering if you did enough for them or with them. but it's not the end of the world. you've gotta just work with what you're dealt with."

The human didn't expect such a long, nor deep, reply from him, and was a little taken aback by it. While these may have been things said before, or maybe she'd even considered them, it was different to hear them coming from someone who two seconds ago wanted to jump off the bridge. Frankly... does that mean she should take his words with a grain of salt, or...?

"sorry," Sans blurted. "said more than i shoulda."

"Wh -- n-no, don't worry about that!! I just... didn't expect you to have a lot to say on the topic. Or, I guess, to really reply lengthy at all. But it's okay! I'm glad you let me hear your thoughts."

He pulled his scarf tighter as he grunted a response, staring still at the reflection in the river.

**Author's Note:**

> 🖤–✨–❤️  
> Undertale © Toby Fox  
> Underlust by @/nsfwshamecave  
> Underlust Reimagine by myself / @/zirkkun
> 
> Thank you for your support, but do remember to support and read Underlust (18+) if you can!


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